Trick Or Treat
by 4400255
Summary: A quick little Halloween oneshot. Gokudera meets an unusual vampire...


Gokudera swore as he felt himself being dragged into an alley with unnatural strength. The boy dragging him looked up with wide eyes and said, "I'm sorry, but I need this!" before yanking him down and biting his throat -

\- and letting go almost immediately, spitting and coughing. "That - what is wrong with your blood? How are you still walking around?! Are you going to faint?! You should go to a hospital! Come on!"

"Wait - Hey! - Let go!" Gokudera snapped, trying to get free. "Who do you think you are?"

The vampire blinked up at him. "Ah, I'm sorry!" He bowed quickly. "I'm Tsuna. Now come on, please - there's something very wrong with your blood!"

"Tch." Gokudera tried to free himself from the vampire's hold again. "It's just an iron deficiency."

"Are you sure?" Tsuna looked doubtful. With his wide eyes and concerned expression, Gokudera had to wonder why anyone would turn him into a vampire. Bite him, yes, the kid had 'victim' written all over him. But _change_ him? What was the point? How had he even survived this long?

"Yes, I'm sure! I've got pills. Back - I've got pills." Gokudera scowled as he remembered being thrown out of his latest apartment for not making the rent.

Tsuna gave him a look that screamed 'I don't believe you', which would have annoyed him a lot more if it had been less... adorable (seriously, _who_ decided this kid should be a vampire?), but he finally let go of Gokudera's arm. "Well, at least let me make sure you get where you're going okay."

"I'm fine," Gokudera gritted out, pushing past him.

Tsuna didn't argue any more. But Gokudera couldn't shake the feeling that he was being followed.

###

"Are you following me?" Gokudera asked in disbelief the next time he ran into the vampire.

Tsuna shifted nervously. "I just wanted to make sure you were alright, that's all."

Before Gokudera could tell him, at full volume and in great detail, _exactly_ what he thought of being stalked by a half-rate vampire, another boy jogged up to them. He was grinning so happily that most people would completely dismiss the murderous undertone to his aura. "Hey, Tsuna, you didn't tell me you were meeting someone new! Guess he's making his apologies for missing last night, huh?"

Tsuna's eyes widened and he started waving his hands frantically. "No, it's not like that - he's anaemic, Takeshi-kun! I wanted to make sure he's okay!"

The murderous aura vanished. "Oh." Takeshi grinned wider, rubbing the back of his head. "You'd better explain it to the kid, then, huh?"

"The kid?" Gokudera asked, wondering why this 'Takeshi' seemed so worried for Tsuna when he clearly knew that he was a vampire. (He buried the question of why a vampire had more people who cared for him than Gokudera, a human, did.)

Tsuna cringed. "R-Reborn-san," he whispered, glancing at the shadows.

Gokudera stared at him in disbelief. He'd long been fascinated by the occult, and he'd managed to learn more about it than most people knew existed.

How had a meek, weak child like the boy in front of him drawn the attention of one of the Arcobaleno - a group of vampires so dangerous they'd been cursed, losing half their strength and taking the form of infants?

"Yeah, the kid's kind of scary," Takeshi agreed cluelessly, making Gokudera stare at him in disbelief. "And, uh... he's probably not going to be too happy about..." Takeshi waved awkwardly at Gokudera.

"It's not my fault!" Tsuna cried. "I can't help it if half the people I'm drawn to have blood diseases!"

"Half? Drawn to?" Was Gokudera more than just convenient?

"Yeah, there's a kid called Lambo," Takeshi said easily. "His blood doesn't clot, so Tsuna keeps having to lick his wounds closed when the brat gets a cut."

Tsuna sighed. "I'd better go make sure he hasn't gotten injured again. See you around, um - er -"

"Gokudera," Gokudera muttered. He didn't tell Tsuna his first name. The last thing he needed was to encourage the vampire's stalkery behaviour.

From the way Tsuna's face lit up, he was too thrilled to receive a half-polite answer to care that it was meant to be a rebuff. "Gokudera-san. See you, Takeshi-kun!"

He vanished. Before Gokudera could leave, Takeshi threw an arm over his shoulders. "How's about we have a chat, huh? We can share stories about how we met Tsuna!"

The murderous aura flared up again.

###

During his studies, Gokudera had learned that the Hibari clan were the local demon hunters who punished anyone preying on the weak, whether they were human or supernatural. Seeing their latest heir come towards him, Gokudera embarrassed himself when his first thought was to worry about Tsuna instead of trying to think of any misdemeanours he might have committed.

Any worries were banished when Hibari tossed him a full bottle of iron supplements. "The useless predator wants to know that you have somewhere to nest. And also says you should be eating onions."

Gokudera stared in disbelief as one of the most feared fighters in the area turned and left, obviously unhappy about being asked to play delivery boy.

 _How_ had Tsuna gotten him to agree to _that_?

###

By the time he met Ryohei, Tsuna's other regular blood supply (the first one he met was, it turned out, Takeshi), Gokudera was beginning to feel confident that he'd grown immune to the shocks caused by Tsuna's choices in acquaintances. The ease with which he accepted the shouting and snapped refusals to join the boxing club reassured him that he could handle this strange new life that seemed to be creeping into existence around him.

That lasted until he - and everyone else - learned that Tsuna was being drawn to complete their group with the most dangerous dhampir known, one Rukudo Mukuro.

###

Gokudera had never in his wildest imaginings dreamed of having a life where meeting more than one of the Arcobaleno could be _under_ whelming.

And then Tsuna squared his shoulders, met their eyes one by one, and declared, "I want to break the Arcobaleno's curse."

* * *

Quick and silly Halloween oneshot, based on a tumblr conversation about a vampire running into someone with anaemia and trying to force them to take care of themself. I am not planning to continue it, so if anyone wants to play with this, feel free. (The conversation is at .com post 59813337776 .)


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